I remember The Postman Syndrome; their lone full-length, Terraforming is a hidden gem chock full of references to the landmark Japanese anime Neon Genesis: Evangelion and intricate songs which contain equal parts fret board gymnastics and melody. Day Without Dawn is the product of that band minus one member and quite a bit of a challenge, which a band can face during their tenure. This band picks up the pieces just enough to put out what will be their lone full-length (following a self-financed self-released and self-titled EP), Understanding Consequences.
Understanding Consequences contains a variety of music, some of which is very good and other that is a little too technical (in The Mars Volta version of "prog-rock") for my taste. "The Wake" is a bit melodramatic sounding with busy finger tapping guitars, keyboard progressions, and building drums; the song builds layer upon layer rather than a clean progression with separate parts, but the vocals work well with the music. The explosive beginning of "After the Banquet" quickly fades to lots of guitar finger tapping while the actual vocals and vocal melody carry the song. Something about "Seducing the Dead" really catches my ear; maybe because it does not depend so much on technical musicianship and rather focuses more on melody with subtle use of horns (a nice touch) and a pretty good vocal arrangement. The clean vocals are strong in "A Cruel Statue" as well (I like the background vocals that chime in at times) while at times the music is kind of busy again; but the dynamics are quite excellent, and the horns make another welcome appearance again. "The Second-To-Last Page" mixes the clean and heavy vocals the best of all the tracks on Understanding Consequences and simplifies some of the music bringing some of the melodies and power more in focus; the songwriting just seems to take a front seat on this song and it shows as it has grooves that are not present elsewhere on the album and other dynamic focuses which are less effectively present elsewhere.
Understanding Consequences is definitely one of those records that I could only take in dribs and drabs rather than a whole sit down due to its prog-rock leanings (I can only take so much of that musician wankery); but if listeners ever wanted to hear what The Mars Volta would sound like with some balls, here is your chance. The members of Day Without Dawn are obviously talented, but sometimes that talent gets lost in all of the technical musicianship. When they give less focus to their collective or individual musical abilities, their songwriting can really shine.
